Hard luck for Scott

By TERRY JONES -- Edmonton Sun

NAGANO - Finishing 60th in the 15km Classical is nothing to write home about. But Becky Scott figures the people back home require some sort of explanation.
The Vermilion, Alberta cross-country skier - who watched the citizens of her 4,200 pop. hometown hold bake sales, car washes, t-shirt sales, and the like - plus a major banquet - to raise $25,000 to help send her and speedskater Susan Massitti to the Olympics - only managed to finish ahead of four other competitors. Another four, including Edmonton's Jamie Fortier, did not start. And one was DQed.
"I don't think it can go much worse than it did today,'' said Scott.
"Somehow the decision was made to wax the skis with hard wax and not klister, even though all the teams were on klister.
"Testing the skis before the race, everything felt fine. But as soon as the race started, it became apparent that the track had glazed over and getting a grip was next to impossible! There are many very hard climbs here, more than on any course I've ever skied, and to be out there without any grip was extremely frustrating.''
Everything considered, Scott said she wished she'd had the experience of marching in the opening ceremonies.
"I didn't march in the opening ceremonies because of the race. I wanted to save all my energy. But the people who did march were apparently too sick to race but not too sick to enjoy the festivities.''